Prelude to the Fall
by abdon-zamudio
Summary: A story about Loki, his fall to Earth, and his ultimate redemption. Clintasha and Stony to come soon! It also includes a small cast of women who help him, and Thanos, the adversary, who wishes to find all six infinity gems so that he may destroy Earth to prove his love for Mistress Death. And this is the start of a very long fiction.
1. Chapter 1

**Helloooo, this is going to be a pretty long fiction- I mean really really long with a lot of OCs, but this is the beginning that I will probably delete and edit. It came to me in a dream, and it's going to have plenty of twists and turns. Hopefully a few people will be along for the ride.**

* * *

Loki felt a tear slide down his cheek despite his attempt to will his tear ducts to remain shut. Being back in Asgard was not exactly how he had this whole "conquering Midgard" plan in mind.

"I cannot even properly destroy anything," said Loki sadly to a black feline sitting in his lap in the prison cell. "You're on my side, aren't you?"

The cat gazed at him with its green eyes. It didn't smile but watched him intently before leaping onto his head. Loki put his head in his hand.

He was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people, yet still didn't put the fear into people's hearts. It either inspired them or they still viewed him as a joke, as an outcast- all except Thor of course who continued to come to the cell every day to remind him that he could "redeem himself" though Loki was not exactly sure about how he would go about "redemption" considering he was a genocidal maniac.

"They're going to take you to trial, brother," said Thor anxiously; coming up to Loki who was lying on the bed giving the impression that he was fascinated with the ceiling.

"How considerate," said Loki, "Will I be killed or banished?"

"Don't speak that way Loki;" said Thor, "Please… maybe banishment would be good for you."

"So the human's memories are that weak?" asked Loki, "You must have a lower opinion of those filthy little creatures than I do. How is that woman?"

"She is well," said Thor, "That is beside the point."

"Your affection for me is quite precious," said Loki, "It will get you nowhere except further down this toilet that I am being flushed down. The proverbial toilet of life, the porcelain throne, who said I wasn't a king after all?"

"Brother," said Thor, "We would spare you, we could banish you for maybe a year- you could be among the humans, you could learn to love-

"Learn to love?" hissed Loki, inches from Thor's leaping from the bed, "Do not utter that word to me ever again. I do not 'love'. It is not my 'modus operandi'. You belittle me, your friends belittle me my entire life, and you come here with a pathetic suggestion 'learn to love'? What god do you think I am?"

"I am sorry brother," said Thor, bumbling away from the prison.

Loki knew that his brother was truly sorry and that it would be prudent to accept the apology and move on, but he also had many other reasons to attempt to stay in Asgard, the most important of course was his own life. So he preferred to remain difficult. It would have been easy to escape from the prison, but Loki would not put the effort into his own inevitable death sentence.

The cat purred on his belly as he lay back down. It made Loki laugh. He made sure no one was around to hear the laugh because they may come and harp on about he could be reformed. Loki hated heart to hearts and was frankly tired of everyone coming to belatedly apologize for their mistreatment.

"Loki," said Sif, "Your brother is worried about you. Please try not to anger the judges at the trials, Loki."

"You do know," said Loki, "That the repetition of my name will not convince me to do anything, let alone 'not anger people'. My existence seems to ruffle feathers, dear Sif."

"Please," said Sif, holding on to the handles of the prison, "Please try to redeem yourself."

There it was. The word, "redeem", which would haunt him for whatever existence he had left.

"Tonight is the trial, Loki," said Sif, "At least try. Please try to be amiable."

"Only for you," said Loki sarcastically.

Sif turned on her heel and left.

"Oh woe is me, kitten," said Loki, "How will I ever get out of this…pickle?"

The humans had such strange phrases. How could a vegetable mean a complicated and unfortunate situation? "Pickle" had a nice ring to it though and Loki found himself repeating it until it was just a sound with no meaning.

"You look lovely Thor," said Loki, three hours before the trial, "Pray tell, will you accompany me to the trial? Cheer me on?"

Thor put his head down. Loki felt a pang of guilt, but not for long.

"Don't fret brother; I will be dead and gone soon. I will be a burden no longer-

"Do not speak like that," Thor roared, "Loki, brother; I am begging you to change your mind."

"Yes, I will," said Loki, raising his eyebrows.

"You will?" asked Thor, relieved.

"I jest, brother," said Loki with a snicker, "I have no intentions of changing my demeanor for the elders of Asgard. I have no interest in pleasing any of you foul creatures."

Loki refrained from making any comments on the way to the court. He did realize that he was slowly crushing his brother's soul one word at a time.

They arrived at the door of the court.

"Good luck, Loki," said Thor and turned to leave.

"Thor," said Loki, he opened his mouth but his voice cracked. He closed it. Thor put his arms around his little brother and held tight. Loki didn't resist for once. Thor let go at last and left.

"Loki," said Odin's booming voice and his voice grew soft, "My son."

Loki rolled his eyes. He looked around the court. All the major gods were there, and he saw his mother, Frigg with an exceptionally kind look in her eyes despite the situation. He did admire her love for himself especially with the consideration that he did nothing helpful for Frigg in his life besides save his father in a situation he had staged.

They were all shining with colorful robes of blue, purple, silver and gold. Most of the faces were judgmental and angry- but a substantial amount grew soft around Loki. He wondered how he had inspired so much pity in people.

"You are on trial this day for crimes against humanity," said Odin, "You killed eighty of the Midgard people. Do you testify?"

"There may have been a few casualties," said Loki who extended his interest now to his nails.

"Loki this is not a time for your antics," snapped Sif, sitting a few seats away from Odin.

"You have three options," said Odin, "I am sad to say that the first is death. The second is banishment. The third is an oath to redeem yourself. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Could you improve the deserts? I don't quite like cheesecake and this is the fifth time they've served it this week."

Odin sighed.

"Loki Odinson-

Loki didn't hear what Loki Odison's fate was according to Asgard because in a moment he was somehow in a basement. And not alone.


	2. Chapter 2

**So, like I said there would be a lot of OCs, but give them a chance :)**

* * *

_The Soul Gem_

_Michoacán, Mexico_

The fluffy white chickens clucked while they pecked at the seeds Lupe had thrown out to them. A blistering sun was shining from the morning sky, and a light breeze whispered through the forest behind her huge ranch.

Lupe had always thought the trees looked sad.

She procured a woven basket lined with a colorful cloth to put the eggs in so that she could sell them in the market the next day.

"Luis," she said, patting her small, grey donkey on the back, "We have work to do today."

The donkey had a gloomy expression on its face. Luis, the donkey, didn't appreciate their weekly walk to the markets. He was a young donkey, but he got sick often. Lupe took good care of him though, and the donkey thrived regardless. Lupe was always kind to her animals. She remembered fondly the time when she helped a baby chicken that had been set on fire to get well.

Lupe put the eggs in a steel container so that they would remain safe on her trip to the markets down town. She patted the forlorn donkey on his head and handed him a ripe, shiny red apple in the hopes that he would cheer up for the trip. Luckily, he did and Lupe put her colorful pink, red, and yellow knapsack around his back.

"Come on, Luis," said Lupe, pulling her donkey along.

She didn't bother saying good bye to her family. Besides, it would take a long time because she had twelve siblings, and one irritable mother.

Lupe began the walk down the grassy and green hill to the town where she would sell her eggs, cheeses, and soap in return for coins. After that, she would buy a few trinkets to take home, and food that she wasn't able to make off the fat of the land. Little deserts that her brothers and sisters would like were certainly on the menu.

The sun beat down on her silky black hair, but at least not the back of her neck because her hair acted as a sun screen. She hummed to herself as she walked on the dirt road, occasionally patting the donkey on his head as a way of encouraging him.

Lupe loved arriving in the markets down in Arteaga. The people were kind and welcoming. They even offered Lupe books so that she would learn to read or write because she had very little education. She struggled through the books, but it was worth it. She even had an abridged version of _Don Quixote. _

Mexico was always colorful. There were vibrant colors everywhere she looked that outlined the faces of the tan, weathered faces of the citizens who came from the countryside. Lupe's favorite color was the deep purples. Purple reminded her of the heartbeat, and the blood that ran through her veins. She knew that blood was blue and purple unless one cut themselves.

An old woman was watching her closely as she walked through the bustling market. Lupe was suspicious of old women in the markets. They always had some sort of strange deals to offer.

"Why are you following me?" demanded Lupe.

"I have a gift," said the old woman.

"No thank you," said Lupe blandly, and walked off to buy a small glass heart necklace. It was a blown glass necklace with purple streaks inside of a crystal orb. Pretty ribbons tied it together. Her mother would love it.

The woman continued to lurk in the corners.

Lupe sold twenty four eggs, four cheeses, four bars of soap and some corn to a fat man with a straw hat on. He had a black mustache that wiggled when he laughed. It reminded her of her younger brother who was just hitting his adolescence. He had a cheesy caterpillar mustache, not a full man's mustache.

"Didn't I tell you?" said Lupe, "I do not want your gift."

She was losing her patience.

Lupe was reading on a bench fondly reminiscing on a time when she put a cactus on her teacher's seat when the old woman appeared, yet again. She dropped a little bag on Lupe's lap and walked away.

"You left something here," said Lupe, "Hey-

The woman was gone.

"A green gem," said Lupe, "Interesting."

Lupe didn't enjoy the long walk home but she read stories to her donkey hoping that he would try to enjoy them.

"There is no book so bad...that it does not have something good in it," said Lupe, reading from _Don Quixote, _"Isn't that fascinating Luis?"

Luis seemed to roll his eyes.

Lupe decided she would sleep on the road tonight. It was empty and Luis was tired. So was Lupe, for that matter so she figured that a good rest was necessary at this point.

Lupe dreamed of spirits, and flashes of green. A man with a blue face laughed at her. His laugh was cruel, loud and raucous in her brain. She woke with a start.

"Luis?"

She saw the tracks of her donkey, and saw that there was resistance.

"Oh no," she whispered, "Poor Luis! God let my donkey be safe."

She ran down the road and saw a group of bandits loafing about by a campfire.

"Excuse me?"

"Buenas noches," said the men.

"I need my donkey back," she insisted, furrowing her eyebrows.

"No," said the man with a mask, "We will keep your donkey safe."

Lupe ran forward and grabbed her donkey, but a man slapped her down. She reached up to slap him, but he caught her hand. He laughed. Lupe screamed. There was a flash of deep emerald green and there was silence.

"Hello?" she asked.

All the men were down, sleeping quietly.

"Come on Luis," said Lupe. She tugged at the rope around him. Luis hurried off with her down the road. Lupe decided she would try to get home as quickly as possible.

From then on, Lupe held the gem close to her heart. When she handed it to her daughter, she told her to keep it close to her heart. When she handed it to her daughter's daughter she told her:

_Do not play God._

* * *

_"Where are the men?" the little prince at last took up the conversation again. "It is a little lonely in the desert . . ."_

_"It is also lonely among men," the snake said._

Kadisha was a young unpretentious woman with a heart of 24 karat gold lived in South Carolina on Meadowbrook Lane. Bright with an intense but laid back disposition. Her eyes were a deep black framed by a square jaw, infinitely perfect eyebrows and a pink bow aperture. She pushed her long curly hair behind her ears so that she could pay attention closely to her experiment. Kadisha adjusted her glasses.

Her sister was upstairs blasting Bach's "St. Matthew's Passion" just to irritate Kadisha.

"WILL YOU TURN THAT DOWN?" shouted Kadisha. Ash was walking down the stairs, though, to greet her sister.

"Hi Kadisha," she said, "I got sad and lonely upstairs by myself. Cheer me up."

Kadisha rolled her eyes, "Sister, make yourself useful and start calculating the time until the trajectory of the moon will be at a 95 degree angle on the floor, make sure you're completely correct."

Ash nodded. She took out a pen and paper. Ash was more of a wordsmith, but she could work with numbers, regardless.

Ash looked different from her sister. Her skin had a light pink tinge to it and turned a papery white at her extremities. Her eyes were a soft brown that inspired pity in strangers. Ash found herself the charity case of a great number of people, more people than she cared to associate with, anyway.

"The full moon at eleven o' clock," said Kadisha running around her room, inhaling burning incense.

"Is it going to work this time?" asked Ash, curiously, "I helped you, but I'm not very good help.

She sniffed.

"Is that incense?" she asked, "What purpose does that have?"

"None," said Kadisha running around, "It just makes it feel more magical."

This was the sixteenth time she had tried to summon her spirit, and it simply wasn't working, but Kadisha refused to give up.

She shined a lamp and aimed it at the moon.

"And fog," she opened the window.

She wrote down her calculations, and made a small radio like device that gave off signals that could reach other worlds. It was an umbrella, aluminum foil, and an old weather radio she had kept from around twelve years ago. Ugly, clunky and large the radio would have to do, despite its shortcomings.

It was raining outside, which Kadisha hoped would make the whole process easier, but she assumed it wouldn't because it was her life, and bad things were bound to happen. Trying to summon a powerful spirit was not the easiest project she had ever imagined. She hoped Ash wouldn't get hurt because of it.

She turned on her radio and waited for an hour. Ash continued to make comments the entire time.

"Boo," said Ash flatly, "Did I scare you?"

Kadisha laughed, "Sister, I know you try to make me angry but it won't work."

"I do try, Kadisha," said Ash, with a smile, "I'm depressed, I want to take down everyone with me."

Kadisha grinned at her sister.

"I'll go get some strawberries so we can eat while we wait," said Ash. She walked up the stairs. Dona Lupe was sitting at the table cutting fresh strawberries from their backyard and putting them on the table for Ash to wash. "Gracias Ma."

Ash looked out the window and saw the stars that glimmered in the sky. She always had wondered why they did that. Why did the light twinkle but the planets didn't? Ash washed over the scars on her wrists and put the strawberries in a bowl. That's when she heard a loud crash.

"Ay Dios mio!" exclaimed her grandmother.

"I'll be right back," said Ash. She rushed down the stairs, dropping a few strawberries on her way down.

Kadisha heard a loud thud on the window followed by a crash. Kadisha screamed and fell into a corner.

A dark figure was crumpled in the corner diagonal to her.

"Is there anyone here?" Kadisha asked, crawling out of her corner where she had been hiding.

"I guess that didn't work," said a resigned Kadisha.

"I hope for your sake that it did not," said a silvery voice out of the darkness of the moldy basement. It smelled similar to old albums, coffee stains, and sentiment. Kadisha walked on a few family albums to get into the center of the room and attempt to reach for the light bulb.

"I hope that it did," said Kadisha, "If my calculations are correct, and being the anal retentive type that I am when it comes to my work, and my sister being more anal than I am, then this should be working. Who are you?"

She cleared her throat, anticipating a response.

"I am Loki of Asgard," said the voice. He was disoriented and confused wondering how exactly he had been taken into a prison in Asgard, but was now sitting in a peculiar dungeon.

Ash laughed, "Oh so you're not a real God, just one of those Norse mythologies dorks."

There was an icy silence from Loki. What was a "dork"?

The light bulb in the basement flickered on emitting a yellow glow around the basement. It was dim, but Kadisha could make out a resentful Norse god sitting in a circle with his wrists bound in silver, even with the fog from the window. Kadisha was so amazed with herself. She had thought she possessed some talent with her scientific excursions, but this? This was astonishing; it must have been a miracle.

"You will obey my every command," said Kadisha, "Correct?"

"If I cannot get around them, yes," said Loki, frowning deeply at his wrist bands. He had to ask though, "Not a 'real' God, what qualifies as a 'real' god?"

"A real God is a creature that can be satisfied with being alive by themselves," said Ash thoughtfully, "they have no other desires extrinsically, and find value in themselves intrinsically. From what I know, you're a trickster god, which means you can't possibly play tricks on yourself."

Loki managed to make his frown even deeper than it already was, "Slave to some idiot Earth child," he said bitterly. He was attempting not to look disoriented, and the gaze coming from the lighter of the two girls was very intense, almost angry.

"Have you been paying any attention to Earth lately?" asked Kadisha.

"Not really," said Loki, examining his nails closely, "My best descriptor for the planet Earth would be 'arbitrary' or 'anomalous' or maybe 'boring' and 'irritating'"

"Right," said Kadisha, "well I asked for a powerful spirit, I should have been more specific," she said as an aside, "but I'm flexible," she said amicably to a visibly pouting Loki.

"Oh don't be so miserable," said Kadisha, extending her arm to drag Loki to his feet. He glared intensely at her, and then his face grew into a large phony smile, but it looked more like a leer.

Kadisha shook her head, "please never do that again, it's unbecoming."

Kadisha's coppery skin provided a great countenance to Loki's lily white skin, Kadisha privately thought that he looked 'pasty' but was too polite to say so out loud. That would have been rude, and Kadisha was not rude but refined.


End file.
